The present invention relates generally to a tool holder which can be manually secured to and released from a base and more particularly to a die holder which can be used to hold a die below a punch in a punch press and can also be used to quickly release and change the held die.
In presently available punch presses a die is held in a die holder which in turn is installed in a die base located in the lower portion of a work station, such as in a turret if the punch press is of the turret type. In such an installation, typically the die base is bolted to the lower turret and may also be mechanically doweled to the turret to ensure that alignment is maintained between the punch and die in the upper and lower turrets, respectively.
The die holder usually has some arrangement to grip the die. For example, this may be a set screw or a vlier pin. Typically, a die is placed in a die holder and the assembly is then installed in a die base. The assembly is usually held in the die base with a fastener such as a set screw or Allen head bolt which requires the use of a wrench or other tool to install and remove a die from the turret. These assembly and removal steps are further complicated by the need to add shims on occasion to raise the height of a die which has been ground to restore its punching edge or surface. The shims generally are loose and must be placed between the die base and the die holder. It is therefore difficult to hold the shims in place while installing a die and holder assembly into a die base.